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Jul

24

2010

Gingerbread to Not Do Away with HTC Sense

10

by Chris Moor
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For all you HTC lovers out there, there’s some good news. While there was fear that Android 3.0 (or Gingerbread) would completely disable manufacturer skins, HTC is apparently not worried about their Sense overlay. Forbes recently interviewed David Bamford, the design lead of HTC, and offered up this nugget of information:

Google, too, has indicated that it wants to make the next (3.0) version of Android more polished and user friendly. Industry observers have speculated that manufacturers like HTC will make fewer alterations on their Android phones as a result. Bamford, however, says he doesn’t expect Google’s tweaks, which are scheduled to debut before the end of the year, to affect his work. “Google may focus more on improving the user interface on the stock Android [software], but I don’t think they’ll preclude manufacturer customization,” he explains.

And there you have it. Keep in mind that if your not a fan of the Sense interface, HTC has left the ability to disable it in their more recent phones, and I don’t see them abandoning this trend. In the end, the inclusion of Sense just adds more choice for the end user.

So what about you? Pro-Sense or Non-Sense? Let us know in the comments!

via [Droid Life]

» See more articles by Chris Moor

Categorized as Android Software, Android Updates

Comments

  • kyle

    Sense is just too much. It takes up a good portion of the home screens.

  • Matth

    HTC Sense is beautiful and add some cool features that don’t exist in Android system.
    But it’s too hard to adapt this overlay when updates system came (remember the time waiting for 2.1 on HTC Hero…)
    If Google improve is UI with some missing widgets, Sense have no more reasons to exist. And HTC could offer to his customers Android updates more quickly.

  • Dennis

    HTC Sense is awesome, but when there is an Android update I want it immediately. Adapting updates to Sense takes much too long.

  • Jelle

    On what models can the sense interface be disabled? Never heard of this optioneel before. I always had HTC Android phones so i don’t know about the original os. What i do hopen is that HTC is gonna release the updates sooner ;)

  • http://xcmeathead.com Rich

    Not sure you’re right about being able to disable sense? Whish phones allow this? Are you sure you’re not thinking of the fact that you can just use the stock home screen by changing the default settings? Sense isn’t just an overlay, it’s a complete overhaul of the core apps, you can’t just turn that kind of customisation off.

  • http://plankhead.com Zacqary Adam Green

    Wouldn’t it be a much wiser move on Google’s part to build up a framework that would separate manufacturer skins from the ROM?

  • Paul

    Non-Sense! Stock Android is much better. Sense is too busy, tries to do too much.

    (Nexus One lover – running 2.2)

  • Snowie

    Could this just be Bamford talking up his job? No one likes to admit that something you’ve worked hard on is going to be shit canned without putting up a fight.
    If stock UI was better and Sense just added innovative but optional tweaks using standard hooks…..?
    So keep the UI innovation, manufacturer differentiation and user choice. Lose the laggy roll outs of new ROMs caused by complex customisation and duplication of effort.
    That’s got to be the way forward! Is that the gates to Utopia I can see on the horizon??

  • Jose

    Wow, if you don’t like Sense (which is crazy) just remove the widgets off of your home screen and use a different mail client. As a business user, I found Android without sense to be pretty much useless. Email setup (especially on the corporate network) was much more difficult and the email and calender apps are lackluster to say the least. I had to search around for hours for an almost acceptable calendar agenda widget. Stock android is missing good contact (people) widgets. I could go on for ever. I think the people saying they don’t like Sense haven’t really given it a try for long. The only thing I found to be slightly better with stock Android was performance but only very marginally.

  • Brian

    I have an HTC Evo on the Sprint network running Froyo 2.2 and Sense UI.

    I like the Sense UI, EXCEPT for the fact that it hobbles bluetooth. Other phones can run Wii remotes for example. Solely because of that reason, I wish Sense UI a horrible and painful death.

    The Evo has the theoretical hardware capability to run a bluetooth keyboard with HDMI screen out, use bluetooth game controllers, connect to other bluetooth devices, etc… yet, because of Sense, we are left with a handicapped phone.

    DOWN WITH SENSE!